Thinking of Going Blond? Consult the Kiosk First

An artists rendering of an automated service island for a retail store from Intel and Frog Design.

SALES clerks still ask customers, “May I help you?” on the floors of many department stores, but some shoppers may soon choose to be served instead by a computer kiosk with clever software.

The new kiosks aren’t the stodgy kind that have long dispensed boarding passes, train tickets and family snapshots. Instead, they have sleek lines and large touch screens — as well as software that, depending on the application, can recognize customers, know what they’ve bought in the past, point out bargains and even let them try out virtual clothing, hair colors and cosmetics onscreen.

Many of these kiosks will serve as automated checkout counters, but will offer much more personalized information than those now in use. Others, like those for cosmetics departments, will let customers create the looks they want.

Intel has built three prototypes of kiosks that may find a place on the floors of department stores. But customers who walk up to them won’t see the usual sales counter with its bar-code reader, cash drawer and credit-card pad — and they won’t necessarily see a sales associate.

Instead, they will find a tall screen at eye level and another screen embedded in the counter. When they flash a card — perhaps one similar to those now offered by many drugstores and grocery chains — the kiosk recognizes them. “Greetings, Mr. Smith,” it might say, before presenting the latest specials and promotions for products, including ones that might go well with what Mr. Smith is already buying.

(Some kiosks may also have an additional screen for sales associates to assist customers.)

Scan in a blazer by passing its price tag across a screen, and it may then recommend several styles of pants and shirts to go with it, along with prices and possible discounts.

The kiosks can give customers a depth of detail — whether product specifications or customer reviews — comparable to what they can find in shopping on the Internet, said Joe Jensen, general manager of the embedded-computing division of Intel in Chandler, Ariz.

“The prototypes are a vehicle for showing the direction we see retailers needing to move,” he said, as brick-and-mortar stores lose ground to Web sites.

Jeff Roster, a research vice president at Gartner, the market research firm, said the self-service kiosks would eventually become ubiquitous in retailing.

“Our studies show that what shoppers want is information without a hassle,” Mr. Roster said, information that kiosks can provide if retailers build appropriate software applications. The software can also handle what retailers call up-selling and cross-selling — making recommendations for other products that customers might consider.

“Then you don’t have to have a highly trained sales staff available 24/7,” he said. “And you can scale the application across hundreds of stores. It’s an almost perfect technology, and it’s hitting at the right time in retail.”

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The Intel system, modular and customizable, was created by Frog Design, a firm in San Francisco.

In devising the prototypes, “we looked at standard checkout counters,” said Mark Rolston, chief creative officer. “The standard cash register takes the money well, but it doesn’t help with the selling process,” for example, suggesting accessories and pointing out what’s on sale, he said. “On the Internet, people get tons of guidance and information. We wanted to bring that volume of information inside the store, too.”

The kiosks have an uncluttered look. “We wanted to hide necessities like the cash drawer and the printer,” he said. “All of that is integrated into the form.”

Customers can pay with cash or plastic. In the future, they’ll even be able to pay with cellphones that can be waved, recognized and billed by the computer, Mr. Rolston said.

Within the prototypes are the same chips that Intel uses for power management technology in laptop computers. A screen becomes active only when customers step near; it goes to sleep within a second of their leaving, said Mr. Jensen at Intel, so power use is reduced.

A number of manufacturers are building kiosks inspired by the prototypes, Mr. Jensen said. Intel does not plan to make the kiosks itself.

Mr. Roster of Gartner predicted that kiosks with varying shapes and applications would soon be found throughout the retail industry, including department stores.

ONE new application, the Virtual Mirror kiosk, was created by I.B.M. and its business partner EZface, to let customers experiment virtually with beauty aides like new cosmetics or hair coloring. The kiosk has a camera to capture the shopper’s image and a scanner to record the product the shopper wants to try.

Consumers can walk up to the kiosk, swipe a barcode for a foundation cream, and see how it looks on the onscreen image of their faces. Norma Wolcott, manager of I.B.M.’s retail self-service business in Research Triangle Park, N.C., said the kiosks would be tried out in stores within 60 days.

Microsoft is working on kiosks too, said Tim Gruver, director of technology and strategy for Microsoft worldwide distribution and services. Customers are building prototypes, he said, including one for a 103-inch wall screen that will run with Microsoft’s coming Windows 7. Users will be able to manipulate images on the screen — to expand a display of electronics or clothing, for instance — the way people now do with images on iPhones.

“These kiosks won’t be dull ones,” he said. “We like to think of them as a different sort of self-service experience.”

E-mail: novelties@nytimes.com.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page BU4 of the New York edition with the headline: Thinking of Going Blond? Consult the Kiosk First. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe